Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for performing real-time computer animation

US5455902A · kind A · utility

20Cited by
18References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 21, 1990
Grant dateOct 3, 1995
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 21, 2010

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T13/20
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and apparatus for performing real-time computer animation of data used to simulate physical phenomena is disclosed. The animation system generates floating point geometrical element simulation data and byte width variable simulation data with a processing unit. The floating point geometrical simulation data is supplied to a graphics processor which generates element transformation matrices. The variable simulation data is applied to each of the element transformation matrices by the graphics processor to generate a plurality of layer transformation matrices. The layer transformation matrices are then applied to a stock piece-wise polygonal surface to generate a plurality of layer elements. The layer elements are displayed on a graphics display unit in real-time in the form of glyphs which animate the physical phenomena.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.